Mint 11 64 bit
2.6.38-8-generic
GNU GRUB 1.99 rc1-13ubuntu3-1mint1

Been running Mint 11 with no problems until all of a sudden it boots to GRUB (no other distros installed) which it never used to do, the screen is oversize for the display, (RHS diappears into limbo) and GRUB does not respond to keyboard Up/down arrow keys etc.

replaced keyboard (have plenty of spares)
plugged into different USB port

Still the same problem.

Booted from Mint12 64bit DVD version and it runs from the live CD, all keyboards work in any USB port, I can see the system disk and all the files I know should be there.

I don't want to replace with Mint 12 as I have some system tweaks that I would like to prepare before I move. (SSD, tmp folder in RAM, nfs to connect to NAS, network printer etc etc) and MINT 12 install says it wipes my installation.

Backup is on NAS so I would have to do most of the mods to get it live to restore from it anyway.....

Is there anyway to get past GRUB and boot from the SSD?

May be installing grub again will work ?

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Never used to see GRUB, this is part of the problem. Got a dead system, so How would I re-install GRUB if I can't get past GRUB.

I can cut a system rescue CD (I have systemrescuecd-x86-2.3.1.iso and other 32 bit systems) but do not see how I get from that to re install, any help with that one?

Why did GRUb mysteriously appear? ( I know its there and normally is defaulted not to appear unless you have multiple OS) but this is single boot, I could add a second OS but don't want to unless really necessary.

as the K/B is totally unresponsive I can't edit the GRUB commands

Got me stumped!

Does the Mint12 DVD offer a "boot from disk" option ?. If so this will chroot you into the Mint11 system - you will be running that system. From there you can re-install grub to the MBR of the hard disk again.
Try update-grub first, then (probably) "grub-install /dev/sda" - should be doco on the Mint site for all that (been too long since I installed it).

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With the help from rhklinux and syg00 it got me thinking how to re install GRUB.

Couldn't do anything with current GRUB and so I used SystemrescueCD

This too was unresponsive on startup screen (I guess it uses GRUB as well)but it booted to the default and then the keyboard was working again.

This triggered that on the initial startup the keyboard uses drivers in BIOS and they assume a PS/2 keyboard, not USB ones as I had been using. Looked in the junk box and found an old keyboard.

SystemrescueCD now did its funky stuff and let me boot from MINT 11 on the SSD

I opened "package manager" and reinstalled GRUB and everything is now fine. So problem is fixed but not the root cause. Needless to say the old k/b will not be relegated back to the junk box as it now has a role to play.